


Green is Gold

by arsistiel



Series: (Alice) in the Wonderland [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec almost killed Magnus but thats kinda cute too, Alec is super fcking tall, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Attempt at Humor, Best Friends, Centaur Alec Lightwood, Centaurs, Challenge Completed though, Confident Magnus Bane, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, First Meetings, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Gay Disaster Alec Lightwood, Hogwarts Fifth Year, I was challenged to do this, Just then being domestic i swear, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Magnus finds him elegant, Meet-Cute, Morning Cuddles, Nah dude its not, Potions, Sleepy Cuddles, Slytherin Magnus Bane, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, coz its Alec duh, fr I apologize in advance, stuck together, that was something I never I thought I'll write, yee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:07:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27489325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arsistiel/pseuds/arsistiel
Summary: Lost in the Forbidden Forests while finding his cat, Magnus encounters a (fairly attractive) centaur. Said centaur has his bow and arrow pointed at Magnus' nose and this might just be the start of a seemingly unique relationship.
Relationships: Magnus Bane & Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane & Catarina Loss, Magnus Bane & Ragnor Fell, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: (Alice) in the Wonderland [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065146
Comments: 11
Kudos: 160





	Green is Gold

**Author's Note:**

> This was a [challenge](https://www.instagram.com/p/CHa4ZwPHDSV/?igshid=1ri04ytwjrybo)
> 
> @arsistiel on twitter/instagram/tumblr (Live tweeting? Tag me!).
> 
> Cover art by the wonderful @lady_koalart on Instagram.
> 
> (All mistakes are mine)

Magnus looked up at him with wide eyes, he stood tall in front of Magnus, must be around 7ft. He had his bow and arrow pointed down directly at Magnus’ nose, quiver over his shoulder. Moonlight highlighted his shirtless torso, his abs, his neck, and his defined chest. Half of his face was in the shadows, hair messed up with a leaf stuck in them, making him look utterly disheveled. The rest of his body hid in the darkness, though Magnus could see the faint outline of the centaur’s forelegs. 

The centaur looked like he had come out of an ancient greek painting. He had a grim look on his face which made Magnus shiver. And as intimidating as the centaur seemed to be, Magnus couldn’t help but let his eyes travel all over his torso. 

The centaur opened his mouth, Magnus expected him to say something deep, something formidable.

“Who the fuck are you?” the centaur said instead, brows furrowing as he looked at Magnus. He lowered his bow a little when he took in Magnus’ non threatening stance, the wizard had his hands up in surrender. “And why are you this deep inside the _Forbidden Forests_ at this hour of the night?”

“I’m Magnus Bane,” Magnus replied, a little hesitant but not letting the centaur see the fear he felt at the moment - centaurs weren’t known to be friendly, to wizards anyways. “I just came here looking for my familiar. I mean no harm.” 

The centaur still looked at him with a hint of suspicion.

“I am in 5th year, Slytherin,” Magnus continued, studying the centaur’s expressions, and gesturing his head towards the robe and the tie that he was wearing. His hands still up in the air. “I got lost here and--”

“You’re not _allowed_ to be here,” The centaur replied. “Especially not tonight. You do know that rouge werewolves have gotten in the forest, right? and it's a _full moon.”_

The centaur’s voice was low, he didn’t seem like he was going to hurt Magnus. He looked worried, even. It weirded Magnus out a little, centaurs tended to keep their distance from humans and weren’t very fond of them. Though Magnus knew for a fact that centaurs _didn’t harm foals._ And the centaur in front of him seemed to be his peer anyways

“Sorry? I just want Chairman Meow, he can die here.” Magnus told him, lowering his arms when the centaur retracted his bow and pointed it down on the ground.

The centaur tilted his head, Magnus could see his blue eyes, reflecting the moonlight, studying Magnus up and down. _“You_ can die here,” he said, exasperated.

Magnus clicked his tongue. “Look, I just want my pet and I need to get back to my dorm,” he told the centaur, “before professor Mcgonagal or professor Horace finds out. I can’t lose my house any more points.”

There was a long drawn wolf howl.

Magnus’ reached out to place a hand on his wand, which was tucked in the waist of his robes. The centaur lifted his bow again and pointed it in the direction of the noise, the part of the forest where the moonlight shone the most.

“Fuck,” Magnus let out, dread pooling in his stomach. “Chairman,” he breathed, now even more worried. “I need to find him and get back.”

Another howl, and this one was accompanied.

The centaur rapidly turned his arrow at the sound, eyes flickering between Magnus and a distant path in front of them. “You are going to get ripped to shreds if you try to go back.”

“Oh come on,” Magnus tried to disregard him but then took his wand out when there was another howl, howls, now closer to them. “Okay, I’ll get ripped to shreds if I try to go back.” He repeated, instinctively shifting closer to the centaur.

The centaur took a breath in. “Follow me and stay quiet.”

Magnus turned to him. “Huh?”

“Are you willing to die here, Magnus?” said the centaur, squinting his eyes. _“Follow me,”_ he repeated as he turned, Magnus hadn’t realize how long the rest of his body was, until now.

One more howl was all the push Magnus needed to follow the centaur.

The centaur seemed alert, he let Magnus walk beside him as he kept his bow and arrow raised. Magnus had his own wand in his hand, up and ready.

“Where are we going?” Magnus asked, and the centaur shushed him when they heard an involuntary rustle of dried leaves.

It took them about 5 minutes before they reached a cottage - a small looking space which seemed like it had been standing there since _ages._ The burner on the porch of it was turned off but there was light coming out of the cottage's windows.

Magnus looked up at the centaur beside him in question.

“Are you going to go in?” The centaur asked him impatiently, hearing the faint rustling and the weird distant creaking.

Magnus gripped his wand tight as he reached for the door and opened it, he didn’t know what he was expecting but it was actually… pretty cozy inside. It wasn't small at all, there were 4 rooms, one of which was a kitchen. The living room, where he stood, was padded with mattresses and there was a table in a corner, about 5ft tall, almost the height of a centaur when they sat, or so Magnus assumed.

There were wooden chairs stacked in another corner of the living room, but they looked like they haven’t been used in long - _what did centaurs did with chairs anyways?_

A small feline meow was heard as a cat gracefully walked out of the kitchen and towards Magnus.

“Chairman,” Magnus exclaimed when he saw the cat, who paid him no respect and just passed by him to walk over to the centaur, who closed the door behind them. “He was with you, this whole time?” Magnus asked, watching how the centaur smiled down at the feline.

“I found him on my porch,” the centaur shrugged.

It was now that Magnus got to see the centaur’s face properly. He had high cheekbones, his skin was pale, his eyes bright blue and a smear of dirt on his cheek. There was a tattoo on the side of his neck, a huge “Z”. Below his human torso, his body of a horse was completely black, just like the hair on his head. The centaur stood elegantly, one of his foreleg raised up with his knee bent when Chairman tried to climb up from it. His hindlegs were strong… and _did he have a tail?_ It kind of made Magnus curious. 

The centaur quietly placed his bow and quiver on a rack near the door and walked over to sit beside the table (yes he did have a tail, it was silver). He folded his forelegs and tucked his hind legs beneath his body, his torso up straight as he placed one of his arms on the table, leaning his upper body against it. 

He reached out and picked up a mug from the middle of the table, pouring the water from it into one of the glasses kept beside it and drinking it in 4 huge gulps. It looked kind of odd, and felt a little weird to stand inside a centaur’s _home_ and be so near to one. Magnus had only ever read about them and had never really seen one this up close. 

Though, no one ever told him that centaurs could actually be this… attractive in real life. Because this centaur sure was, horse body aside.

It was now that Chairman finally came up to Magnus and rubbed his cheek against Magnus’ leg. Magnus, too busy watching the centaur, didn’t even notice the feline at first. But then looked down.

“Ah, so you remember me,” Magnus muttered as he bent down and scooped Chairman up in his arms, rubbing his head with his knuckles. “I was worried sick about you”

“Do you want…” his attention was caught back by the centaur, who was gesturing to the water mug in his hand and a fresh new glass.

Magnus looked at him, the centaur seemed more shy and reserved now. “Yeah,” he said, dropping Chairman down and walking nearer to the centaur, though a little careful. 

The centaur rolled his eyes at the cautiousness. “You can put that away,” he said, nodding towards the wand in Magnus’ hand. “If I had to hurt you, I would’ve done it out there in the woods.”

Well, he made a good point. Magnus tucked his wand back in the waist of his robe, so it was still easy to reach for it when needed. He padded on the mattress, feeling a little guilty because he was sure his shoes were making muddy footsteps on it, and reached for the glass from the centaur’s hand.

He caught the centaur licking his lips and averting his eyes while he drank, gulped, the water down.

“So,” Magnus said, “What now? I have to go back to my dorm before anyone notices that I’m gone.”

The centaur sighed, leaning his torso back against the wall and crossing his arms above his chest, the gesture made his biceps bulge. “Now we wait until it’s safe to go outside.”

“And when is that?”

“Until the moonset,” said the centaur, looking up behind Magnus and on the wall, where a clock sat. “5 hours…”

“Merlin,” Magnus sighed. He needed to get back to his place before the sunrise, atleast. 

He placed the glass on the table and just stood there, looking around the place. He noticed a small bird cage kept near the windows, inside of which was a Yellowhammer bird. Probably a messenger, Magnus thought, as he loosened his tie in the process and opened the top two buttons of his shirt, needing to breath.

“Y-you,” the centaur cleared his throat, “You can sit down… if you want.” he said, not really meeting Magnus’ gaze - while sitting, he was just about Magnus’ height. 

Quietly, Magnus sat down on the mattresses with his legs criss-crossed, near the centaur and facing him. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his Slytherin robe. It wasn’t very cold today, it was just chilly, as one would expect it to be in the forests at night.

Chairman had jumped in Magnus’ lap and the wizard caressed his body while the centaur, in front of him, just kept looking at the feline fondly. There was a thin sheet of awkward silence settling in the room.

Magnus decided to pierce it, “do you have a name?”

“Huh?” The centaur jerked his head up a little to look at Magnus, as if he wasn’t expecting the question. “Ugh, Alec.”

Magnus tried not to smile at the way he stuttered, quite adorably. “Short for something?”

“Alexander,” The centaur - Alec - replied, bring one hand up to rub the back of his neck, “But nobody really calls me that.”

 _“Defender of man,”_ Magnus said, “makes sense, _Alexander.”_ he saw how Alec’s cheeks tinted a little shade of pink at the sound of his full name.

“Yeah,” Alec breathed, licking his lips again. It had been a while since he had been this close to human. 

The slytherin in front of him had a soft expression of his face, almost amused. His hair flopped down on his forehead and there was a hint of gloss on his lips. His eyes though, his eyes were what attracted Alec the most - they were green but with flecks of gold in them.

 _Get a hold of yourself,_ Alec’s brain supplied

“I didn’t know centaurs had,” Magnus looked around, waving his hand to gesture towards the house before he looked back up at Alec.

“Where else would we live?” Alec questioned, squinting his eyes a little. Magnus just shrugged as an answer. “What else do they teach you about us, there?”

“At Hogwarts?” Magnus clicked his tongue. “Not much, I sure have heard that you all are excellent archers,” he nodded his head in the direction of the door, where Alec’s bow and quiver was hung. “And that you don’t like to mingle with humans.”

“Not everyone is an _'excellent archer'_ , everything takes practice.” Alec replied, “And yes, we don’t ‘mingle’ with humans but… not everyone of us doesn’t like to,” he added on quietly.

Magnus smiled, tilting his head a little, the corner of his eyes crinkling faintly. Alec’s stomach did a small flip-flop. 

“That’s good to hear,” Magnus said, gazing up at Alec, feeling a little more comfortable in his presence. “They were right about one thing though,” his eyes flickered from Alec’s face down to his torso in one rapid movement.

Alec caught Magnus very not-subtley checking him out and cleared he his throat, feeling a blush creeping up from his neck to his cheeks. “I, ugh,” he stuttered. 

He was sleeping when he had heard the cat creating chaos on his porch, before he heard a man calling out a name in the woods. He had immediately grabbed his bow and had headed out. Not wanting to take a chance, he was paranoid anyways because of the werewolves that had found their way in the forests. Hence, in a hurry, he forgot to put on a t-shirt, though it was warm anyways so he didn’t see the need for one.

Magnus just looked at him and chuckled, shaking his head before going back to looking around the house. “Do you live here alone?” he asked, taking out his tie from over his head and finally shrugging off his robe, placing them beside himself along with his wand as he began rolling up his shirt sleeves up to his elbows.

Alec averted his eyes, trying not to stare at the wizard. He shook his head lightly, now fully leaning against the table. Somehow, he felt like he could trust Magnus, he felt okay with him. “I have my sister, and my mother…and my best friend, he basically lives here.”

“They’re gone somewhere?” Magnus questioned, genuinely curious.

Alec nodded. Jace, his best friend, was back with his family tonight. Izzy and Maryse, his little sister and mother, had gone nearby to the Fairchild family for dinner. Alec had decided to stay behind, not really in a mood for social interaction. His family was supposed to be back by 10 anyway. But when the news of the werewolves got out, they sent Alec a letter through the Fairchild’s pet parrot and told him that they decided to stay there, and will come back home in the morning.

Chairman jumped out of Magnus’ lap and walked up to Alec again, before sitting down beside his forelegs and snuggling his head in with a purr. 

Alec glanced at the cat, he brought his hand down and bended to caress Chairman’s head. “How did _you_ lose him?” he questioned Magnus.

“He ran away,” Magnus sighed. “I had an argument with Ragnor, my best friend, so I snuck out of the castle to take a walk on the grounds and clear out my head. Chairman Meow decided to join me,” he accusedly looked at Chairman, “And then ran away.”

Alec let out a chuckle. “You named your cat _Chairman Meow?”_

Magnus waved his hand around dismissively. “It was on the whim, better than orange pudding, atleast.” 

Alec laughed this time, his face brightening up. Magnus couldn't help but smile.

They talked for a bit, mostly about Hogwarts and the forest. Alec told him a few stories about his siblings and their centaur community. Magnus didn’t know that centaurs were this fun, it felt nice and fun. They seemed to be fun. 

Surprisingly, it was also easy to talk to Alec. They would’ve made great friends, if Alec was in Hogwarts, Magnus thought. Not realizing when he was almost leaning against Alec’s hind legs and his huge body. Alec looked down at him with his torso against the table and his head placed on it, arms folded underneath his head to pillow it. He looked a little weary.

“Can I ask you a question?” Magnus asked when Alec let out a yawn. “How do you sleep?”

“I close my eyes, how do you sleep?” Alec retorted, giving Magnus a smug smile

Magnus clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes. “No, like-- you know,” he said, “Does your… torso stay straight when you sleep or…”

“We have a pillow table beside our beds, Magnus,” Alec replied with a humorous smile, and then gestured towards the position he was in, right now. Head and his arms resting on the table while the rest on his body was on the mattresses below. “Like this. We can’t really sleep on our backs.”

“I’d pay to see that,” Magnus replied, grinning when the image popped up in his head, Alec laying down on the ground on his back with his long horse legs flailing around.

Alec just huffed.

Magnus woke up to Alec shaking his shoulder, he realized that he had fallen asleep with his back against the chest of Alec’s lower body with his cheek pressed to Alec’s hindlegs. Also, Alec smelled good, like rosemary, so of course he had fallen asleep cuddled up to him.

“Magnus? The sun is about to rise, you have to get back,” Alec murmured to him softly, and Magnus blinked his eyes open.

The faint morning light hit his face. “Oh fuck,” Magnus said, sitting up. He saw Chairman curled up in his robe and immediately shooed the cat away to pick it up and wear it, tugging his wand in his pocket as he swiftly stood up. “We have to go, Alexander. Now”

“Okay, we will, just-- give me a second.” Alec said, and Magnus took a step back when he stood up, stretching out his arms and arching his back. 

He walked past Magnus and went into one of the rooms, probably his. In the meantime, Magnus made sure he didn't leave anything behind, scooping up Chairman in his arms as well.

When Alec came back, Magnus stared at him for a bit.

His hair was messed up, standing in all directions and falling on his forehead. He now wore a plain white t-shirt with a thin green jacket over it. The rest of his black body slightly shone in the little dawn light.

"woah," Magnus said, "I didn't know that centaurs wore clothes"

Alec rolled his eyes, going to pick up his bow and quiver and leaving a note in its place, probably for his family. He had decided to put clothes on because it was fairly chilly today, outside. "We don't always run around naked, Magnus." he told him, opening the door of his cottage. A gush of cold breeze rushing in. "let's go"

Magnus took his wand out and twirled it in his hand, while holding Chairman with his other as they walked through the forest. Alec had his bow and quiver over his shoulder and he seemed to be fairly calm.

It was peaceful, their pace increasing as the first sun rays fell on the trees and created shadows. Magnus took the surroundings in, listening to the bird chirps. It felt refreshing.

They quietly walked by each other. Magnus turned to look up at Alec who had a soft smile on his face as he looked at his surroundings, like he had a soul connection to the trees, the leaves, the birds, the insects. He mingled so well with it all.

Just as they started to see castle more clearly, and as they reached nearer to the lake. Magnus' eyes fell on a bunch of flowers, growing beside a few orchids.

They were red and blooming, droplets of the morning dew on their petals. They were unlike any other flower Magnus had seen before, he was sure it was his first time seeing these.

"Alexander?" Magnus asked, stopping in tracks, "what are those?"

Alec jerked his head in the direction of where Magnus was pointing. "The red ones?" Magnus nodded. _"Middlemist Red,"_ he replied, a glint in his eyes.

Magnus blinked up at him in question.

"They are known to be the rarest flowers in the world, to the muggles." Alec told him.

"Oh?" Magnus said, handing Chairman over to Alec as he took soft steps towards the blossoms and bent down to take a better look at them."They're so… beautiful," he let out, his fingers delicately hovering over the flowers, careful, as if they were made of glass.

"You can touch them, if you want," Alec complied, a soft smile on his face when he saw Magnus' amused gaze. He would've probably shooed _anyone else_ away from a 10 meter radius of the flowers, but Magnus… Magnus had this pure look in his eyes.

He wasn't what Alec's perspective of a slytherin had been.

Magnus shook his head and stood up, brushing off his knees. "I have to go," he said instead, taking Chairman back in his hands and starting to walk ahead again.

After a few meters, Alec stopped before the forest ended, hesitant to go forward.

"End line?" Magnus asked with an understanding smile. 

"Yeah," Alec breathed out, quite apologetically. The sun had still not fully risen yet and he didn't really want to leave Magnus alone.

Or maybe, he just didn't want Magnus to _leave._

"It's alright, Alexander." Magnus replied, studying Alec's expressions. "I can go, by my own," he did another dramatic twirl of his wand between his fingers.

Alec bit the inside of his bottom lip, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Thank you, for saving me," Magnus continued graciously, "And this asshole," he gestured at Chairman who seemed like he didn't care about anything but his sleep.

"Yeah," Alec repeated, not knowing what else to say. Then he saw the morning sun rays falling on Magnus, making his golden skin and his golden-green eyes gleam. His hair messed up and the top two buttons of his shirt still open.

_He looked beautiful._

"You should, probably-" Alec gestured behind Magnus, seeing the sun rise.

Magnus, who had his gaze fixed on Alec, looked like he just snapped out of his thoughts. "Right, I should… go back," he said. "Guess this is goodbye, then." It sounded more like a question than a comment

Alec nodded, hesitant, and took a few steps back. Watching how Magnus slowly turned to his feet, starting to walk away.

Alec released a breath, hanging his head low as he started to turn around himself.

"Alexander?" Magnus' voice made him pause, he turned his head to see Magnus smiling at him, "I liked talking to you."

Alec shot him a smile back. "Me too."

They parted ways.

Yesterday morning, Magnus slipped back into the castle fairly easily, merging with the group of early rising Slytherins who were going back to the dormitories after their early-dawn extra classes.

No one really noticed him gone for the whole night, they all knew that Magnus had a tendency to sneak out at mid-nights and go for walks. No one, except Catarina and Ragnor, ofcourse.

His two best friends had interrogated him all day long yesterday, trying to figure out where he had been. They were worried, obviously, and Magnus apologised for worrying them. But they (Read: Caterina because Ragnor pretended that didn’t care until Magnus was hurt or dead) had to _have_ all the details.

DADA ended somewhere around 4pm and Magnus had no interest in going to the great hall, pretending to do his homework when actually, he couldn’t concentrate even in the slightest. So, he decided to sit on the bleachers of the Quidditch pitch and watch the Ravenclaws practice for the Quidditch season. It was a good day, like yesterday. Clear skies, birds flying around, cool breeze blowing balancing out the warm temperature. 

Magnus placed his chin in his hands as he saw the Ravenclaws huddling around and discussing team plans. He wasn’t paying attention though, his mind was too unfocused, it kept drifting back to the Forbidden Forests. 

He picked up the book beside him, the one he had borrowed from the library last night, and continued reading it

_Half Horse but Human: Centaurs, The Myth and The Reality._

“Ah, of course he’s reading this again,” said a strong british accent as Magnus felt two people coming to sit beside him.

“What’s up with you and centaurs?” Cat said instead, peeking in the book that Magnus was reading.

Magnus slammed it shut, turning to face his two best friends. “Cabbage, Cat, how are you two this fine evening?”

“We were going to ask the same to you,” Cat said, “been ignoring us, have you?”

Magnus released a theatrical gasp, placing his hand over his chest to express his _utter_ shock. “I would _never”_

Ragnor rolled his eyes. “What’s going on with you, Magnus?” he asked, more serious now.

“Nothing’s going on with me,” Magnus shrugged.

“Rubbish,” Ragnor retorted. “You disappear for a whole night, come back to the dorms looking utterly disheveled, you’ve been obsessed with these _centaur_ books since these two days…” he holds his index finger up to cut Magnus off before he could defend himself, “and you have this, this _smitten_ look on your face, which is absolutely repelling”

“My face is very delightful,” Magnus replied dismissively.

“Magnus,” Catarina said, “You've been zoning out a lot since yesterday, and you smile when you zone out. You weren’t even paying attention in _potions_ today because you were reading that,” she gestured at the book in his lap. “Don’t think we didn’t notice.”

Magnus sighed, covering the book with his robe. “I zone out all the time when he’s talking,” he pointed at Ragnor, “doesn’t mean anything”

Cat narrowed her eyes, Magnus could almost see her patience wearing out. “We all know that that’s an empty retort.” she commented, because it was true. Potions had always been Magnus’ favourite and he had always scored a full grade in it. In the past 5 years, there wasn’t one potion’s class that he missed or hadn’t paid attention to. Until now, apparently.

“Are you going to tell us where your tie went?” Ragnor threatened, “Or do we need to force it out”

Ah yes, Magnus had lost his tie, assumingly somewhere around the forest, and of course Ragnor and Cat had picked up on it. They were probably thinking that Magnus was out to hook up with someone or something.

Magnus knew that they wouldn't do that if Magnus told them to seriously leave him alone. But, they were his best friends and he told them everything, so what was the point of hiding _this?_

“Okay,” Magnus started, taking in a breath. Ragnor and Cat straightening up at that. “So, after our argument over how potions _are better than DADA,_ because it is,” he looked at Ragnor, who just huffed, “I went out for a walk in the quidditch pitch"

“We know,” Cat said. “But you were gone from there after a few minutes, that too, in your school robes.”

Magnus nodded. “Chairman followed me, and then there was a werewolf howl,” Cat inclined her head, humming - there were a few werewolves that had found their way in the Forbidden Forests, and the students were told that Professor Mcgonagal and Hagrid got them out of the forests just last night. “So, he got scared and ran away towards the lake, then jumped in the forests--”

“Ah, of course your familiar is as barmy as you,” Ragnor huffed.

“--And so I went after him,” Magnus said, ignoring Ragnor. His voice low, when he felt Cat’s eyes dig into him.

“You did _what?”_ Cat asked, looking at him like he was an absolute idiot, which he was.

“Absolutely barmy,” Ragnor added on, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Magnus waved his hand. “I survived.”

Cat punched his arm. “I would’ve hurt you myself if you hadn’t. That was stupid of you.”

“So you went to the Forbidden Forests, in the dark, while there were rouge werewolves on the loose…” Ragnor repeated, “... spend a night there, and came back perfectly fine, not a scratch on your face--” he narrowed his eyes. “I have a hard time believing this”

“Ragnor,” Magnus clutched his chest dramatically, _“I_ can’t believe that you’re doubt my abilities like this.”

“Spill.” Cat replied.

With a sigh, “Okay,” Magnus said. “I met a centaur.” he saw Ragnor and Cat’s eyes widen up a little, “Who rescued me… after Chairman, and took me to his home.”

“You spent a night with a _centaur?”_ Cat said again. “And he _rescued_ you? I thought centaurs didn’t like human interaction.”

“So did I,” a short smile tugged up on Magnus’ lips, “But Alexander was actually very sweet”

“Makes sense,” said Ragnor instead, eyeing the book in Magnus’ lap. 

“Yeah,” Magnus shrugged. “It was nice, cozy even.”

“Merlin, you have the look again,” Ragnor eyed Magnus’ smiling face. “You’re seriously smitten for a _centaur?”_

“Oh don’t be so shallow,” Magnus rolled his eyes. “He has black hair, ocean blue eyes and is fairly attractive. I liked talking to him--”

“Wow, okay.” Cat said, “So you just sat down and talked the whole night away with a centaur?”

“His name is Alec.” Magnus corrected. “And yes, we did indeed, though I fell asleep for a bit.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed, one of these days,” Ragnor deadpanned.

Magnus scoffed. “Seriously, I trust him. He’s… nice”

“He’s going to be the reason our house loses all of its points,” Ragnor said to Caterina, pointing at Magnus. Then looked back at him. “You do know what’ll happen if any of the professors find out, right?”

 _“If,”_ Magnus repeated.

“Magnus, you’re seriously not planning on going to meet the centaur again, are you?” Just as Caterina completed the question, as if on cue, a bird - a small Yellowhammer came in. One Magnus had seen before.

The Yellowhammer flew in circles above Magnus' head, asking to catch it’s attention.

“Bloody hell is that?” Ragnor questioned, looking up at it.

Magnus couldn’t help but grin when he saw the bird, he knew who it belonged to.

 _“Centaurs often breed small birds - they use them as a mode of communication. The birds are trained to catch the attention of a centaur’s mate and call said mate to themselves when in battle.”_ Chapter 5 of _Half Horse but Human: Centaurs, The Myth and The Reality;_ paragraph 3.

“It’s a bird, Ragnor,” Magnus replied, tilting his head up to look at the bird himself. It sat on the tip of his nose when Magnus did so. “Surely you’ve seen birds before.”

The Yellowhammer turned, its feet tickling Magnus, and bent down to peck Magnus’ temple before flying again to circle around his head again. Magnus hung his head low and chuckled for a bit, before standing up. The bird started to fly away at the gesture.

“This has something to do with your centaur, doesn’t it?” Cat asked, watching as Magnus shrugged on his robe properly. “Where are you going?”

“I’ll be back in an hour, I promise. Cover up for me,” Magnus told them as he jumped down the stairs, leaving his book behind and following the Yellowhammer.

“Magnus,” Ragnor called out, “don’t come back dead, you moron"

Magnus turned and gave him a sarcastic flying kiss. “I won’t. Be back soon.”

The yellowhammer took him into the Forbidden Forests from the path of Hagrid's shack. Magnus was careful, dodging all the students he knew can snitch and ducking down or pretending as if he’s just walking whenever he saw a teacher. 

The bird flew lower, in Magnus’ level of eyesight, when they entered the forests. It guided him through the bushes and trees. The forest was the same kind of calm it had been yesterday morning. Birds chirping, trees softly rustling, the sunlight coming in, blocked by the leaves that almost covered the sky like a blanket.

They didn’t go as deep in the forest as yesterday night. And Magnus finally stopped walking when he saw Alec, standing there with a grim look on his face. As if he did not know what to do with his expressions.

His hair messed up again, mostly falling on his forehead, and sticking out on his head. His gorgeous blue eyes shining. He was shirtless again, Magnus assumed that it was because of the warm weather but he smirked at the idea of Alec secretly trying to flirt with him. The sun highlighted his pale skin and his muscles, abs, pecs, biceps. The ‘Z’ tattoo on the side of his neck stood out. His bow hung over his chest, it’s string diagonally across his torso.

Magnus almost missed the raw bouquet of flowers that he was holding in his left hand, his right hand over a bag - whose belt was around Alec’s waist - inside of which peeked out a green piece of cloth.

Magnus’ tie.

“Hello, Alexander,” Magnus inclined his head up to look at Alec, the Yellowhammer going to sit on Alec’s back.

“Ugh, hey,” Alec replied, a smile now tugging up on his lips as he looked down at Magnus.

“So…” Magnus questioned, taking a slow step forward, “How did you decide to call me, today?” 

Alec licked his lips, head jerking down to look at the bag he had his left hand on. He pulled out Magnus’ tie from inside it and held it out in front of him. “You left your tie, at my place so I thought…”

Magnus gave him a smile, coming in to take his tie from Alec’s hand and looking back up at him. “Thank you, I was looking for this,” he replied. “Are those for me?” he now pointed at the direction of the flowers in Alec’s hands.

“Oh,” Alec said, Magnus could see a blush crawl up his neck and to his cheeks. “Yeah, yeah I brought these for you.” he carefully handed them over to Magnus.

_Oh._

It was now that Magnus noticed what flowers they actually were. 

_"Middlemist Red,"_ Magnus breathed, observing the two beautiful red flowers, their colors contrasting with the yellow roses besides them, and the few fresh leaves around the bouquet.

Alec rubbed the back of his neck. “You liked these in the morning yesterday, so I thought I should, you know, get them for you,” he said, “I couldn’t get more than two of them, though, so I thought of getting the roses, too.”

Magnus almost chuckled at Alec’s words, bringing the flowers up to his nose to take a deep whiff in. They smelled good.

“I love them,” Magnus told him, holding the flowers close. 

Alec bit the inside of his bottom lip. “I’m glad you do.”

 _‘As centaurs are close to nature, they often use symbolic elements from their home to express their emotions to their mates…’_ Chapter 5of _Half Horse but Human: Centaurs, The Myth and The Reality;_ paragraph 7.

Magnus distantly recalled that he had learned in botanical studies once - Camellias, much like Middlemist Red, symbolised affection and admiration. And Yellow Roses, the ones he held in his hands, were a symbol of friendship and caring. 


End file.
